A scapegoat for the Catholic church

I have been a Catholic priest for the last 34 years. In my ministry both in London and New York, I have witnessed the good works of many of my fellow priests in schools, hospitals and the caring professions. Many of these men happen to be gay. Many are celibate. Some are not. Historically, the church scapegoated the Jewish people in its misguided attempts to bring Christian Catholicism to the world. In most recent times, the church has found another scapegoat: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered peoples. Every human and civil right gained by gay people over the past 20 years has been vehemently fought by my church. To teach that LGTB people are "disordered in our nature and evil in our love" (Vatican Document 1986) cannot be separated from the suicides of so many gay teenagers, the queer bashings and bullying in our school yards, and the assault and sometimes murder of gay people on our streets. This most recent document (Vatican rules firmly against gay priests, November 30) comes in the wake of a sexual abuse crisis in the church. Why once again must LGTB people be scapegoated in this way? In ministry to LGTB people in general, and people with HIV/Aids in particular, I am appalled at what my church continues to do in the name of Christ to those who are gay.
Rev Dr Bernard Lynch London

Your leader on the Vatican's approach to gay priests is too uncritical (Distinctly without prejudice, November 30). By singling out homosexuals as potential paedophiles in seminaries, the Vatican chooses to ignore the well-publicised predominance of heterosexual men, including some fathers, as paedophiles. By focusing public attention upon the issue of homosexuality among seminarians, heterosexual child abusers are let off the hook at the expense of gay priests in training. Religions of all denominations have much to learn before they can rise to the real and urgent task of understanding homosexuals in the fullness of their equal humanity and richness of potential.Patrick Wilson Leamington Spa

Your support for the Vatican's new policy on gay priests is incomprehensible. Which part of: gays are intrinsically immoral, they are objectively disordered, their behaviour contrary to natural law, their acts are grave sins (your own summary of Catholic doctrine) is without prejudice? It is bullying fundamentalism, based on a misogynist conception of priesthood and faith.Dr Dan Healey University of Wales, Swansea

Is your editorial on gay priests in the Catholic church some kind of ill-judged spoof? Most offensive is perhaps the casual segue from gay to paedophile.Gavin Maughfling London